Racism

Tribal peoples are often portrayed as backward and primitive simply because their communal ways are different. And their land is stolen in the name of “progress” and “civilization.”

Survival gave its “Racist of the Year” award in 2016 to President Ian Khama of Botswana, who described the Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve as living a life “of backwardness,” adding theirs is “an extinct form of life.”

With Khama spouting racist prejudice like this, it’s not surprising that his government is guilty of violating the Bushmen’s rights. Since they were violently evicted from their ancestral homelands, Khama refuses to allow many of them to return. Wildlife officials are even beating and torturing them for hunting to feed their families, and the government has initiated a shoot on sight policy targeting Bushman hunters.

With Survival’s help, the Bushmen won a court case that could have put an end to all this, but Khama refuses to abide by the court ruling. Please send an email in protest.